Still I’m on the go, so still reviewing a few of the things in my GoBag…

Bottom line up front? The Body Shop brush is a perfectly acceptable brush.

The one in my GoBag is my second one, after wearing out the first – and I got my third BS brush in my nook at home, as part of my rotation. I bought the brush in my GoBag before I got into DE shaving – canned goo was never for me, so only a couple of weeks after I started shaving frequently I bought my first brush and shave cream from Body Shop. Even with my on-and-off shaving, beard growing and experiments with electrics the brush was worn out after fifteen years… so a replacement was needed. Less than a year later I started DE shaving and realised there were better brushes by far out there… anyhow, back to the brush in question:

The brush itself is simple; a turned wooden handle, a knot of white man-made fibre dyed dark on the tips (probably to imitate badger) and… well, that’s all really. The first one I had had an all white knot, and was much  less soft than the current model. The current model is far from badger soft through, or even as soft as a broken in boar. If anything it’s closer to unbroken horse, so if you want a soft touch this may not be the best choice of brush.

It’s not a big brush – about the same size as my Turkish No6 – and the balance is towards the handle. It’s not particularly dense either, but if it had been denser the knot would probably been way to stiff. Speaking of the knot; it don’t really retain much water either – but then again from what I gathered only the most costly of synthetic brushes do. This can be a problem if you like to lather directly on your face, but with a bit of dipping and some pumping it can still deliver a wonderful lather in copious quantities.

What I can say with certainty is that the quality of the brush has been improved – the pair I has gotten over the last three years or so is heads and shoulders above the one I got back in ’92 or thereabouts, before I went to boot camp. The old one would shed a hair, or two or three, each time I used it – the now ones does not. The old handle had a very thin coat of varnish, the newer ones have a thicker, more durable layer.

Overall I would rate the brush as a good starter brush, even if it’s more expensive than my favoured Turkish horses, and a good travel brush considering it dries in less time than it takes me to drink a cup of coffee.

As far as I can tell these two brushes have a pretty similar knot and handles much the same, so I’ll treat them as one for the purpose of this short review. As I’ll touch upon later, the differences in behaviour between two of the same model is likely to be as big as the differences between the two models.

Brushes can be expensive, especially if you gotten into badger territory. On the other hand, brushes can be cheap without being bad – if you’re willing to take a change on something different. Bestshave.net in offers two horse hair brushes hovering around 2.50 USD which have gathered quite a following around the world – the imaginatively named No6 and No7. The former has a wooden handle and is the slightly cheaper of the two, the later comes with a plastic handle that will set you back another dime.

As mentioned briefly, the two brushes shares a pretty similar knot as far as I can tell. Both brushes have a loft that is 50 mm above the handle, and they are about equally thick at the base. Bestshave.net lists that the knot measures about 25 mm on the No6 and about 20 mm on the No7 at the base – however, the No6 have undergone a redesign since I bought mine which probably explains the difference.

The knots are fairly densely packed, but not overly so – giving them a bit of spring and flex. Be warned though; a quick look online indicates that both brushes suffers from some QA issues – in short the quality varies wildly – even if comments seems to point to this issue slowly getting resolved; the No6 is now offered along with the reassurance that “Now, more quality, and aesthetics“. There also seems to be some discussion around the web as to the nature of the hair used for the No7; some say it’s boar but most seems to agree that it is indeed horse. Could be a case of using what hair you got laying around I guess – these are cheap and cheerful brushes.

Getting down to the basics; are they any good? Can a brush costing about one cup of coffee work well?

In short, yes. They both work great – good backbone, good flow, little to no scratching… in short, everything a brush should be in my opinion. They both smelled a bit of horse the first few times I used them, but frankly that isn’t a bad smell. To top it off the balance is good too, with the centre of gravity on a loaded brush about where the handle and knot meet, and both No6 and No7 offers a reasonable comfortable grip. So far both have been able to whip any soap I tried into a smooth, creamy lather – both in a bowl and on my face. The slightly larger No6 holds more lather but the slimmer No7 can hold plenty enough for two and even three passes – even with my spotty technique.

Are there better brushes out there? Certainly.
Are there cheaper brushes out there? Possible.
Are there brushes out there that gives so much performance for so little cash? I seriously doubt it.

The Turkish No6 and No7 would be an excellent first brush for a newbie not wanting to spend much money on a new hobby. They would also be a good “first horse” for more experienced shavers who wants to try something new. No7, with the plastic handle, could be a great brush for travel – one you won’t be heartbroken over if you forget in a hotel. Or you could simply get one just for the fun of it – letting you get one more brush in your rotation without laying out more money than you would for a cup of coffee. Overall I would rate the No6 with it’s wooden handle higher – not only do you save a whooping ten cents, but the handle looks better and fits my hand better than the slimmer plastic of the No7.

I must however temper my recommendation with a warning: These are brushes costing about 2.50 USD, manufactured in a place where quality control is spotty as best. Your Mileage May Vary… as always. But can you afford not to try one of these brushes?

My newest acquisition as far as razors go, the Feather Popular is a mild and kind razor of mixed construction.

I picked the Popular up for less than 10£, but for being a cheap razor it certainly has a lot going for it. Build quality isn’t the highest, but better than most cartridge razors I’ve tried and heads and shoulders over any disposables I’ve seen. The Twist To Open head features stamped and pressed metal doors mounted on a plastic base, while the long handle is all plastic. If you should happen to drop the Popular the thin doors is likely to be knocked out of shape, but so might the doors on a more expensive TTO razor.
As mentioned the Popular is a mild razor – so mild in fact that I feel  it should be paired with an aggressive blade. It makes a very fine job of taming the wicked sharp Feather Hi Stainless blades, giving a smooth, comfortable shave on the most obnoxious stubble. The long handle gives plenty of control to the Popular, but if you should prefer short handled razors you’re out of luck – unless you want to get a sharp knife out and shorten the handle yourself. The light weight makes it somewhat tempting to increase the pressure while shaving, but like any DE razor this is best avoided. It’s safety bar is plastic, which probably is what causes the ever so slight tendency of the Popular to want to go sideways while shaving. Not a big issue, just something to be aware of.
The Popular quickly made itself part of my rotation. It is an excellent first razor since a newbie can try traditional wetshaving for little money, the Popular would make a wonderful travel razor if I didn’t already own one, and it would be a good fit for any wetshaver looking for a mild razor – even if the look and design wont win the Feather Popular any prices.